The Shock
by Adam Randall
Summary: It's the first Christmas after Curt's death, and Mary Ellen is about to have one of the biggest shocks of her life.


**The Shock**

Storyline ©Adam Randall

Characters ©Warner Bros.

The Christmas of 1941 wouldn't be quite as merry for any of the Waltons, but it'd be downright bleak for Mary Ellen. Curt was dead. Her _husband_ was dead. The only man she felt that she had truly loved was dead.

She tried to console herself by thinking about her family and how she was lucky to still have them, but even they didn't feel constant anymore; just a few years ago her eldest brother John-Boy had moved away and was now seldom seen and then her beloved Grandfather had died suddenly. Before long, Grandma, Mama and Daddy will have passed on too, her brothers and sisters will have married and moved on leaving her alone as the widow of the family who had nobody.

Simply getting up in the morning was hard now. There was nothing to enjoy, nothing to look forward to. Some days she'd just lie there, but today was Christmas so she felt she'd be expected to do something.

At 6 a.m. she thought she may as well get up, she'd barely slept that night and was hardly going to get any more sleep during the next hour or so, which was when the rest of the family would be getting up. She quietly got dressed and then went to sit alone at the large family dinner table. After half an hour, Grandma was up.

She made her way over to her granddaughter and said "Merry Christmas." Mary Ellen took her hand and thanked her with moist eyes. Since she'd had a stroke a couple of years ago, Grandma had really struggled to talk, so this really meant a lot to her and helped to lift her spirits somewhat.

Still holding Grandmother's hand, she thanked her and wished her a merry Christmas too. But before long she was gone and, once again, Mary Ellen was alone. It didn't take long for the feelings of deep sadness to return. It wasn't just emotional pain either; she was so upset she could actually _feel_ it in her stomach. This continued existence, it was horrible.

But then a small distraction presented itself: there was a knock at the door. One of the neighbours come spread the Christmas cheer, no doubt. Though it was strange that they'd pop by so early; why wouldn't they just wait until church? She wandered over and when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door, she experienced one of the biggest shocks of her life.

It was Curt. There must have been a mix up, she must have been sent the letter about his death by mistake. Here he was, alive and well and on Christmas morning. A true miracle. And now he meant so much more to her; after having thought she'd lost him, she'd realised just how much she needed him. He'd never be taken for granted again; it's only when he lose somebody that he realise how much we need them, how pure and unconditional our love for them is. She flung her arms around him in a tight embrace, never having been happier.

"Oh, Curt, Curt," she said, sobbing into his chest, "I thought you were… I thought I'd never… I love you, never leave me again."

"Whoa, whoa," he replied, squirming in her arms. "Who's this Curt?"

She pulled back and looked into the face of her beloved, "What do you mean?"

"I'm _Rex_," he replied, a little flippantly, "Rex Barker."

Mary Ellen thought her husband could be playing some bizarre joke. No. Mary Ellen _hoped _that this was her husband playing some kind of bizarre joke, but the pain of cruel realisation was slowly dripping into her.

"I've got a Christmas card here for John-Boy Walton from Bobby Strom, remember her? Since I was gonna be in the area anyway, she asked me to deliver this. Is he here?"

She remembered now. Of course this wasn't Curt, she could see that now. He was almost physically identical, but this was a different man. She couldn't reply, she tried as hard as she could to hide her tears and embarrassment from this stranger. She turned and ran back to her bedroom; through a terrible twist of fate she felt that had lost her husband all over again. She'd be staying in her room for the rest of the day.

Rex stood in the doorway with a look of bewilderment on his face. John had heard the sounds of somebody at the door and then of his daughter running away in tears, so he'd come down to investigate.

"I don't understand it," Rex said to him, "she started calling me Curt and then ran off crying. What'd I say?"

"Don't worry, you didn't say anything. It's just, she lost her husband, Curt, a few weeks ago, and you look an awful like him, I'm sorry," John said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rex gave him the card and left. John then headed up to Mary Ellen's bedroom. She was lying face down on her bed, crying her eyes out. He sat down beside her, and rubbed her back as he tried to comfort her. But he couldn't. He liked to protect his family from life's troubles, but war brought dreadful things with it, things nobody could be protected from. He took his daughter's hand and sat with her in silence as she wept. What hardships were yet to come?


End file.
